TMEA 2012

Wasn't TMEA fabulous this year?  Wow!

I was so excited to meet teachers who are breaking into using more technology in their classrooms!  Welcome!

I especially enjoyed Brent Gault's many sessions with activities to teach classical music.  I was excited to learn that he is working on a publication of his activities.  I have plans to create some SMARTboard lessons with some of his ideas (his permission was granted) and hope that he can make use of SMARTboard technologies in his future presentations!

I just happened to peek in to one of the final sessions as I was leaving... so GLAD I stopped to see what was going on!  I left with fabulous ideas for Music Stations!  Check out their website: www.peonymusic.weebly.com

For those of you who don't have a SMARTboard or Promethean, check out Nowboard available in April 2012 from Music in Motion.  It is only $499.00 and turns any whiteboard into an interactive device.

Music in Motion also has "Music Works" digital files that can be used with any projector or IWB.

A great new resource is Quaver's Marvelous World of Music!  It is a DVD kit with 30 episodes covering music concepts and an interactive website.  Unfortunately, the DVD kit costs $995.00.  But the wonderful news is that the website is free!  It is possible to unlock additional parts of the website for nominal fees.  Well worth checking into!  http://www.quavermusic.com/Default.aspx
Here is a preview on Youtube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UfVt5AkD28

And finally, check out "breezin' thru theory" for Music Theory and Composition curriculum that uses the SMARTboard technology.  This is geared for 6-12 grades, but some of you may be interested for your classrooms.  It is only $8 per student.  For htose of you with a private studio or who teach strings, this might be a resource for you!  Check out their website:  http://breezinthrutheory.com/


Oh... I forgot.  ONE HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT:  I have been so thrilled with Vols 1-4 of "SMARTboard Now Activities" by Phyllis Thomas and Debbie Anderson.  And I discovered that they have sold out to Heritage Music Press which changed all the volumes to "Interactive Now" and everything uses Flash technology and doesn't make use of the fantastic capabilities of the SMARTboard or Prometean.  It is still interactive, but not what I was used to and loved.  I spoke with Mike Anderson about this and expressed my sentiments and he agreed. Here is their original website and fabulous products:
http://smartboardnow.com/


There is another resource I'd like to mention that was not at TMEA but has produced IWB activities that are worth checking in to.  http://www.funmusicco.com/interactive-whiteboard-music-lessons/.  They also have a bunch of other things that are worth taking a look at.

I will be featuring some of these products in more detail in future blogs, so keep in touch!

What was your favorite thing about TMEA?